Rémi Denis-Courmont is one of the primary developers of the VLC media
player, which is free software and distributed under the GPL. Earlier
this week, he wrote to Apple to complain that his work was being
distributed through their App Store, under terms that contradict the
GPL's conditions and prohibit users from sharing the program.

VLC media player is free software licensed solely under the terms of
the... GNU General Public License (a.k.a. GPL). Those terms
are contradicted by the products usage rules of the AppStore through
which Apple delivers applications to users of its mobile devices.

We've written before about the Usage Rules in the App Store's
legal terms, and how they conflict with the GNU GPL and AGPL. That's
because we went through a similar enforcement action against
Apple when we learned that a port of GNU Go (which is copyrighted
by the FSF) was being distributed through the App Store.
Unfortunately, Apple chose to make the issue go away by simply
removing the software from the App Store. Rémi expects that Apple
will do the same for this VLC port. He says that if they do, "users
of iOS-based devices [will] be deprived of VLC media player, as a
consequence of the intransigently tight control Apple maintains over
its mobile applications platform."

He's exactly right about the source of the problem. The GPL gives
Apple permission to distribute this software through the App Store.
All they would have to do is follow the license's conditions to help
keep the software free. Instead, Apple has decided that they prefer
to impose Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) and proprietary legal
terms on all programs in the App Store, and they'd rather kick out
GPLed software than change their own rules. Their obstinance prevents
you from having this great software on Apple devices—not the GPL
or the people enforcing it.

Apple continues to use more DRM in their products: they just announced
that a Mac App Store will be coming soon to their laptops and
desktops, and you can bet it will have the same draconian
restrictions as today's App Store. Meanwhile, people enforcing
the GPL like Rémi are fighting against DRM, so that everyone can be in
full control of their own computers. We're thankful to him for taking
a stand. If you want to show your support, too, it's easy: just steer
clear of Apple's DRM-infested App Store.